Bed Bugs! Yuuuck!!

I am in need of the ATS advice line for assistance, please!!

I work in a hotel that is trying to save a buck in their handling of bedbugs. (Lets face it every hotel has them, and they are lying to say they don't!) They hired an extermination company, but are forcing employees to be directly exposed to them and the toxic chemicals that are being sprayed in these rooms. They have now made employees dismantle the rooms prior to treatments, directly exposing them to bringing them to their homes, and act as if they have no liability towards anyone they send in.

Now in addition, many of these rooms may be taken out specifically to be treated, but due to time may be used during a weekend and then rescheduled for treatment the next week, knowingly exposing guests to the hazard. None of us know what direction to turn for help, and have to just deal with their demands from us for fear of losing our jobs. Some have already drug the problem home, while some like myself have not yet but realistically it is only a matter of time.

Anyone have any thoughts, or suggestions outside of finding a new job that we can try? I know there are a lot of smart people on here with great ideas. Thank you in advance...

Dynamite works great to rid a building of those pests. Maybe that is an overkill. Just burn the place down.

I sure hope you know I am just kidding.

originally posted by: rickymouse
Dynamite works great to rid a building of those pests. Maybe that is an overkill. Just burn the place down.

I sure hope you know I am just kidding.

Of course! Lol

a reply to: Peekingsquatch

there is no insecticide that kills bed bugs...

Steam is the preferred method of doing in the wee-beasties.

if it were my place I'd drag all the infested crap outside and burn it!

in this case the extermination company might be liable since it's common knowledge insecticides do not work on bedbugs. In other words they cheated the hotel out of money and as a result you guys still have them and now people are taking them home too...

sounds like a law suit to me

I've never dealt with bed bugs, but I did once have a chick shack up with me and infest the place with head-lice. I went to the feed-store and bought some permethrin, diluted it to 5%, and sprayed everything, including my own head. Knocked the little bastards right out.

a reply to: HardCorps

The question is what kind of suit? I've been trying to figure out how can you directly go after them for this? Some sites say they aren't a health hazard, while some say they are. And the chemicals are another issue. The information about them is so contradictory.

a reply to: Peekingsquatch

The place I work at does the exact same thing. We have them frequently pop up in random places, because students travel and bring them here, or they hide in walks or PTAC units.

As you already know, they're nasty little critters that hide everywhere, they're particularly hard to kill, and they're faster the you think they might be. Bed bugs come in a lot of sizes as they develop, often times they are very small until the infestation becomes more advanced. As such, dismantling rooms can lead to big time exposure. Trust me, I've done it dozens and dozens of times.

Its industry standard to treat rooms with Temprid SC, a white, concentrated, broad spectrum pest killer. It's mildly effective on bed bugs, but it's the most effective chemical I've encountered that's still relatively safe once it's dry. We use Temprid in conjunction with a heat treatment process that is successful about 90% of the time on the first try. We also follow up with what I'd argue is a waste of time and money, and that's applying dietonecious earth, a talcum powder like substance.

I work in a college dorm setting, so we see these a lot. It incredibly important that whatever leaves the room is treated before it's returned to the room. You may see one bug, but it's a given assumption that where there's one visible bug, there's at least an additional dozen hiding. Don't get caught in the trap of mentally confining the to beds just because of their name either. I've seen them on ceilings, in bags, and behind pictures and computers in rooms. They do travel around beyond just the bed.

It's a good idea to look for evidence of them that you may not think is there. Look for blood on sheets, fecal matter around the edges of the bed, and eggs hidden in cracks in the frame. You may even take a business card and dig into cracks from time to time trying to pull them out.

My advice to you is this, bring up treatment alternatives to your supervisor if you oh aren't doing these things already. Also, if you haven't got one, maybe it's time to develop a policy for them. We had to do that here, and it's been a lot of help when talking to our customers (students) about the issue.

If you're concerned about bringing them home, do what I do. Bring an extra set of clothes for the days when you have to deal with them. Do the work that has to be done, then change into the new clothes and bag the old ones until you can run then through a high heat dryer cycle or two. The heat will kill the bugs, and that helps prevent them from latching on for a ride!

As far as chemical concerns go, just be prudent in handling anything that's contaminated. Wear gloves if you must, and try not to lick anything that's been sprayed. Once dry, most if the chemicals we use are safe. I'd imagine your experience wouldn't be all that different than ours here.

If your employer doesn't want to address the issue, it may be time to consider alternatives. I was considering hat myself before I helped draft our operations policy for these bugs, and since then I've become the person people turn to about them.

a reply to: HardCorps

That's not entirely accurate, MOST insecticides are ineffective. We do have mild success rates here where I work using a concentrated insecticide from Bayer known as Temprid SC. We use it in conjunction with a propane powered turbofan that heats the room to between 160° and 185°. It's the best thing I've seen yet to kill then in an entire room.

But you are right, it does get into some legally risky areas when it comes to negligence and fraud.

a reply to: Peekingsquatch

Oh my gosh...this sounds horrible. For both you employees, and guests who stay in infested rooms. If by chance you do find a new job. Please remember to file a complaint with the BBB, better business bureau, and an anonymous letter with pic of hotel location to local news stations for further investigation and exposure. Kick them on the way out, for their greedy unsafe practices.

Good luck Sweet Pea...

Des

a reply to: Peekingsquatch

Bed bugs are persistent, alright. Like termites, they hide and are good at it.

You may be being subjected to "continuing treatments" as a ruse to up the fees. Or somebody keeps bringing them into your hotel from somewhere else.

I don't know who you're employing to do this "job" but it should be a one time thing with follow up monitoring. Good exterminators will tell you this in the beginning, will inform you of the best way to handle it and prove to you their findings and results. They should guarantee it too.

With bedbugs (like termites) its best to bite the bullet and call a big company instead of "good deal charlie" to handle it. A sure sign things aren't going well is if they are constantly coming back and retreating for more money.

Heres good info on the little buggers…

ORKIN

a reply to: Peekingsquatch

Some have already drug the problem home, while some like myself have not yet but realistically it is only a matter of time.

One recommendation I read about this is to immediately put your clothing in a dryer on hi temp for fifteen minutes when you get home. That advice is in the ORKIN link I provided for you in my other post…


Hope you guys get it resolved!

Its kind of messed up, they even write you up if you so much as gripe about having to deal with them in any way.

Im under the impression if they figure out they have a problem, they get a company to deal with it- not make the employees deal with mostly all of it by changing their job descriptions suddenly.

While I have never dealt with the issue directly, I have taken part in training dogs for seeking out bedbugs.

I suspect that they would be able to locate the prime spots, but actually determining this would largely be up to the handlers interpretation.

It might allow for a focused battle on the major problem areas, and then you can work from the fringes back in.

a reply to: Serdgiam

Those dogs are immensely helpful! People don't believe it at first, but they work much better the flashlights and visible searches.

The company we work with brings their dog out about once a month to search around and to follow up with rooms.

As another poster mentioned, a guarantee or warranty is a good thing to ask about. Some companies offer it, others don't. It really just depends on who you work with because they're right, this can become a fee filled fun zone if you're not careful.

a reply to: HardCorps

www2.epa.gov...

www.sterifab.com...

There are insecticides that absolutely will kill bedbugs; I've personally administered it. Obviously they are wiley creatures and lay their eggs all over, but it's ridiculous to claim that these harsh chemicals won't kill them.

Yes, make sure you don't get your clothes anywhere near your house and put them in a high temp dryer for a cycle. The heat will kill any that might be hitching along with you.

My husband occasionally takes business tripe to conferences and I freak out every time. This is what I do with all his clothing. His suitcases go into big, tied plastic bags and sit out in the garden shed.

I remember when I had bed bugs suddenly appear in my house. You have to catch them early enough to kill off every last one of them.

You must throw away every part of your bed including box spring and mattress. Even the entire bed frame. Any couches near your bed or dressers.

Seriously those bugs will live in any small crack or crawl space.

After of which you need to buy some bed bug spray. Should be in a small 2 pint spray bottle for 10 to 20 bux. Spray the entire carpet down twice using a very close 6 inch by six inch spray grid. You can spray as much as you like for it will not harm you. But keep your pets out of your room.

Spray your tapestries, and all around any openings in your walls inluding wall outlets. Don't spray into the plug area! Just spray it all over the wall surrounding it. If you can't throw away your dresser or night stand and such then spray them down. But your bed absolutely HAS TO GO. There is no way to save your bed. Sorry! Get a cot like I did.

After you spray everything you need to double check everything before putting them back in. Wash and dry all of your clothes twice. Any detergent will work but it is the heated dry spin on high heat that kills them.

Open every single page of every book you had in the room. They like to hide in the middle of the page. And you could easily miss one by just flipping them real fast.

After that mame sure to look for signs of nests.... they like to plaster their eggs in fabric, walls, tapestry, right inside of small cracks, corners of wood, and generally anywhere the eggs can stick. They are small and white. They look like zits that popped but were never cleaned up. Bed bugs stay close to their eggs. Kill every last one of them by cutting them in half where they stand. Leave them dead there and the bed bugs won't ever tread there.

After about a month go through everything I just told you in this post and it should fix the problem. Don't buy another bed just after you do this. Doing so could mean throwing out another bed. Make sure no one elses room has them either. They can easily move to another room.

a reply to: Peekingsquatch

I was in a temporary living situation where there was a severe bedbug infestation.

I have successfully repelled bedbugs by:

1.) spraying a product whose main ingredient was cedar oil;

2.) spraying an amber antiseptic mouthwash containing eucalyptus;

3.) spraying a mixture of one cup water, a drop of dishwashing liquid, and a few drops of each of eucalyptus oil, rosemary oil, lavender oil, and clove oil.

Additionally, before bed and during the night, I'd take the following nutritional supplements:

1.) dried garlic;

2.) dried onion

3.) garlic oil;

4.) Vitamin B-1.

Before leaving that place, for several days before departure, I sprayed my new suitcase, all the areas around the suitcase and the closet.

I did not carry bedbugs to my next digs.

P.M.

The problem I have is our company has decided to involve us as workers in the removal of them now. While I thank everyone for their great tips, I'm talking more along the lines of a NLRB issue. We are not trained to deal with this stuff properly, and the company just seems to think it is ok to include with our job descriptions suddenly out of the blue. We have a pest company that does pre-spray, then a certified employee would set up heaters, remove plates and heat the rooms, then the company would reinspect and re-spray again afterwards. Well lo and behold he was fired too, but now they have decided to make us go up and remove plates in these rooms, or dismantle headboards from the walls, pictures etc and also have to move around the mattresses leaning against them, the nighstands where they love to hang out etc. None of us should be around this stuff, much less be walking though any of it, or have to deal with it in any way. While I realize we run the risk everyday, it is something different than being forced to go in active areas everyday, and now demand that you deal with this stuff instead of guests that actually pay our salaries.

Last week, say wednesday/thursday they took a bunch of rooms "out of service" for pretreatment including at least 7 that were active, not just suspected- when friday came around they said screw the heat treating of the rooms, used them for new guests, then took them back out on monday to be heat treated after knowingly putting people in them! I watched one of the housekeepers try to at least clean the room properly and his boss told him "don't worry about that, we need these rooms immediately for the weekend!" I'm totally floored over the handling of this whole process and am afraid I'm going to get fired for speaking out about this, I'm not qualified to deal with these, I could bring them home, and we are the only hotel in town that seems to be doing things this way at all. We have no dogs, just suspicion and they are going floor by floor right now trying to push them down the tower, but as the bus groups keep coming in-more come right back..

I'm so fed up I have no idea what to do, but at least there is a sounding board I can talk to about it. Thank you everybody